By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WERRIBEE boxer Josh Keirl loves the personal and individual satisfaction his sport provides.
Always the sporting type, the 21-year-old decided to follow the footsteps of both his grandfather and great grandfather into the boxing ring, and just as they did for Keirls of eras past, the results are starting to pay off for young Josh.
“I was sick of playing team sports and having to depend on everyone else if you get let down by someone in the team,” Keirl explained.
“Boxing’s all on me. If I don’t perform, it’s my fault.
“So I just gave it a crack and I’ve been doing it for about three and a half years or four years now.”
Last month Keirl defeated Laverton fighter Dimitry Schukin 17-12 for a state title and subsequently stamped his ticket to Adelaide for the national titles, for which he leaves late next week.
“I was pretty stoked,” Keirl said of the Schukin result.
“Obviously I get to represent my state now, which has always been a goal of mine.”
Keirl has since undergone an intense training regimen out of Werribee’s Inbalance Boxing Gym to prepare for his first fight, which will be on 11 February against an opponent yet to be confirmed.
“I’m training seven days a week,” Keirl said.
“I’m training five days a week with the state team and the state coach, and I’m doing extra sessions with Darren (trainer Darren Cowley), and with one fight at a time hopefully I’ll see if I can win the Australian title.”
However Keirl admits finding time to keep in touch with the schedule is tough, but at the same time necessary to be competitive at this level of boxing.
“It’s hard to manage sometimes,” he said.
“It does take up a lot of time but I have to fit it in if I want to get somewhere.”
Cowley insists “the sky’s the limit” for Keirl, who one day hopes to represent Australia at Commonwealth or Olympic level, before eventually going professional.
“He punches above his weight,” Cowley said.
“He’s in the 60-64kg division but he punches probably 10kg harder than anyone else in that division.”
Cowley went on to credit Keirl’s rise through the ranks with the intensity he brings to training as well as his raw ability as a solid hitter.
“That’s more to do with the type of training he does, and it’s the explosive type training and body mechanics as well,” Cowley said.
“Boxing’s a very lonely and individual sport and he does a lot of homework and does a lot of work away from the gym as well as at the gym.
“As soon as you make the Australian team people stand up and take notice and there’ll be sponsorship and endorsements and all that sort of stuff to help him on his way.”
